Happy Halloween!

We had a busy Halloween today. The kids were out of school(what's up with that?), so of course everyone wanted to squeeze in their orthodontic appointment on their day off. DeAnn and I had a good time dressing up and I think both our costumes were quite fabulous(if I do say so myself:)

Here's a few pictures I stole from DeAnn:
I'll post the rest later, after I download them from my camera. Joe and I have a very low key evening planned. I'm already in my p.j.'s. We had one little trick-or-treater come by early, but don't expect too many more. We have quite a few kids in our complex, but I think they may go to the surrounding neighborhoods that have houses, as we only get one or two a year that come by our place. More candy for me!


Hope yours was sweet!



P.S. I deliberately bought candy that I did not like so I wouldn't eat it. Hopefully we'll get at least one teenager and I'll just dump the rest of the bucket into their bag and be done with it!

**O.K., so we've had three trick-or-treaters come by already so I'm glad I bought that bag of candy! It's not even dark yet. Is that normal? Do you wait until dark to take your kids trick-or-treating? I always remember waiting until it was dark, but then again, that was a looooonnnnggg time ago.****

Pumpkin Carving

Last night when Joe got up he asked me if I wanted to do anything fun before he went to work that night.

I replied "Yes! I want to carve pumpkins!" Apparently he was thinking more along the lines of going to a movie.

Too bad. He asked, and that's what I wanted to do. So I went to the store and picked up a couple of pumpkins. I would have just gone out to my front porch and gotten the pumpkins that I usually keep out there, except they were stolen by some punk a few weeks ago. But I'm not bitter about it. I know, I need to get over it.

The downside of buying pumpkins two days before Halloween is that they are totally picked over and I had to practically get inside the huge box they were keeping them in at the store to pick some good ones.

This was my pumpkin. I always tend to choose tall ones.



The upside to buying pumpkins two days before Halloween is that all of the pumpkin carving utensils are 50% off. Score!
Getting ready to clean out my pumpkin
Pumpkin guts. My least favorite part of carving a pumpkin. Slimy. Yuck.




After tracing the pattern and poking the holes. The website I went to recommended this. It said it made it easier to carve. I have to admit, they were right!

The finished pumpkin

Here it is lit up. It is supposed to be the face of a Chinese dragon but I'm not sure it really looks like one to me.
What do you think?













Apparently carving pumpkins did not sound like a fun thing for Joe to do, because he fell asleep while I was carving mine! I had to wake him up to take these pictures. He had to get up and go to work anyway, okay?

Lazy Day

I am enjoying a lazy day off today. This is the first day in the last 14 days where I didn't have twenty things planned and wasn't in the car running around all day.

Why is that your(or my) life can be completely boring and have nothing going on for months at a time, but then all of a sudden life is crazy and you find you aren't even home enough to get the house picked up?

October has been a whirlwind. I can't believe it is almost over already.

I am so glad it is, though because that means the Pres.idential Ele.ction will be over because I am sick to death of it. I swear if I have to listen to one more radio commercial about one of the Propositions I will stab myself in the ears with a pair of sharp scissors. Or something less dramatic. But seriously. Are there really people left in this country who are undecided who are going to hear one of those commercials and change their minds? Probably not. Joe and I sat down a week ago and went over each and every issue on the ballot so we(I) would fully understand the implications of each one and we filled out our sample ballots and we're good to go. And now I am sick of talking about it and I'm sure you are sick of hearing about it.

And next month is November, and then the holidays begin in earnest, and Holy Cow, I Am. Not. Ready. Well, mentally I'm not ready. As far as Christmas shopping goes, I am way ahead of schedule. I usually start the day after Halloween, but this year I have a couple of things bought already and have started on a very ambitious project of handmade gifts that I'm sure I will be working on right up until Christmas eve(as witnessed by the making of the wedding scrapbook).

I took a class last night and made the first set and then purchased all of the supplies I need to make 8 more sets. They turned out so cute. I would show them to you, but I can't because chances are if you are part of my family, or you know me, you are getting some for Christmas.

We are going to have to be on a serious budget this year. Which sucks. I love going all out on Christmas. I'm one of those people who buys a gift for the lady that does my hair. And the mail carrier(who I don't even know. We live in an apartment). They are small gifts, but still. I love giving gifts. But I'm going to have to pare way down this year because of Joe's job situation(which I am not talking about here, thankyouverymuch). So my list of people to buy for is much smaller, and I'm making a lot of handmade gifts. It's the thought that counts, right?

Joe just got home and has gone to bed. He taught this morning and has to go to work from 10:00 p.m. tonight until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I don't know how he does it.

It is 1:45 p.m. and I am still in my pajamas. Is that wrong?

And finally, just for fun:

What Your Cute Monster Says About You

You are a giving, open, loving person. You truly want the world to be a better place. You appreciate what you have in life. You are very content. Your inner demon is sensitivity. You are very sensitive, and your sensitivity can be a double edged sword. People think you're cute because you're generous. You are easy to love - it's part of your charm.

The Cute Monster Test

Wedding pictures

The Bride with her Father



Introducing Mr. and Mrs.(we were sitting way off to the side and I wasn't able to get very good pictures during the ceremony, as both their backs were to me)

View from our seats

Stunning flowers

The cake. It was red velvet. Yum!

I was hoping to get a good Christmas card photo while we were all dressed up, but I don't like any of the pictures we got. This one is okay.



First Dance


Old friends


Stable girls. We have known each other since our "stable" days, when we were 13 years old.
The bride is the last one of us to get married.

Group dance with the stable girls

I caught this sweet moment between my good friend Monica(one of the Maid of honors)and her youngest son on the dance floor.

Right before he crashed for the night!



Such a fun evening!

Busy. Exhausted. 24 months.

I have been so busy. Very, very busy. I'm ready to slow down now. This weekend was a blur of activity.

Friday was the wedding, which was beautiful, and romantic and oh-so-much fun. Pictures later.

Saturday night I found myself at another wedding, but this time as part of the hired help. A Mom from my sister's neck of the woods(Northern CA) sent out an e-mail to her mother's group a couple of months ago asking if anyone knew of a good babysitter in Southern CA for a wedding they would be attending here in October. My sis forwarded the e-mail to me, and I contacted her and told her I would be interested. So at around 3:00 on Saturday I went over to the hotel they were staying at in Laguna Beach and watched their one year old son while they attended the wedding reception being held at their hotel. He was a cutie, and a perfect angel, and they paid me quite well for it, so it was all good.

Today I spent the whole day in Loma Linda visitng with my cousins and my Uncle at the rehabilitation center, where I found he has improved much, which I am so happy about.

I only just returned home about an hour ago, and realized today is has been 24 months since we turned in our paperwork to adopt. It almost slipped right by me, just like last month. The months are starting to blur together, which is a good thing I suppose. In January we will begin the arduous process of renewing everything to turn in again and I will be praying hard that there are no glitches and we are able to complete it without too many obstacles. It gives me anxiety just thinking about it. So I won't. At least for now. This week is looking to be quite busy too and I am exhausted and going to bed. At 9:00 p.m. Seriously. Good night.

You guessed it!

You are all too good. I knew you would guess it!

These were going to be my next clues:

First this one(perhaps this should have been my first clue?)

And then this, which would have given it away for sure:
I'm going to be…………………….Little red Riding Hood.

"But Grandma, what big eyes you have!" Hee! Perhaps the working with children forever is still influencing some of my decisions.

Stacey was the first to guess right, so she wins the prize.

I'm sure I have your address somewhere Stacey. If not, I'll e-mail you.

I'll be sure and post pictures next Friday after I get off work.

Thanks for playing!

I'll be MIA this weekend so I won't be around. Have a good one!

Guess my costume

My Halloween costume came in the mail today. I ordered it online last week.

My co-worker DeAnn and I decided we would dress up this year(well, she decided, and I agreedJ).

I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years. It was before my Mom died, when I worked at a non-Christian preschool and they still did the whole carnival/dress up/waste a whole day of school on Halloween thing.

They did away with the costumes at the Catholic school I worked at for fourteen years, which was perfectly fine with me because when you work with kids there is nothing worse than a roomful of kids(40) hopped up on candy and dressed in costumes. Seriously.

So anyway, I was gonna tell you what my costume was, but I decided it would be more fun if you guys guessed. (More fun for me, I mean. Probably not that much fun for youJ).

Here's a couple of clues. I'll keep adding them each day until someone guesses, but I have a feeling it won't take that long. You all are pretty smart and it's not that hard of a costume to figure out.
Anyway, on to the clues:

It's not a scary costume.

Here's your first clue:

*****Edited to add: The above is a picture of a Grandma.********

I'll send the winner a little prize in the mail!

Slacker

I'm a slacker. I still have not uploaded the pictures from day two of Photo Bloggy Days. I still have not answered Wendy's interview question.

I haven't even had time to read or comment on all your blogs. I am definitely a blog slacker lately, that's for sure.

I have just been so busy. I was not home even one day last weekend.

This week hasn't been any better.

Besides work I have been running around trying to get some things ready for a wedding we have on Friday. I am making the bride and groom a scrapbook for their present, and it still is not done. Hello, I have two days to finish it.

Well, seeing as though we're leaving for the wedding right when I get off of work(early) on Friday, I actually have one day left to finish it. The wedding is at 5 o'clock on Friday. Who gets married at this time? Seriously? I know the bride and groom were on a budget, so possibly it was much cheaper? I don't know, but I anticipate a lot of people who work not being able to go. The bride is a friend I have known since I was 13, so it was important for me to make sure Joe and I could attend.

Thankfully I overcame a headache last night and stayed up late working on the scrapbook so I only have a few pages left to finish. Pictures to come.

I think it turned out very nice, but as usual I was a perfectionist and spent too much time(and money) on each page. I could have gotten the couple a nice gift card with the amount of money I spent on it, but this is more special right? I hope so.

Sometimes I worry that people won't like or appreciate a scrapbook as a gift. Also, I know a couple of people who I made scrapbooks for and when I was at their house a year later I noticed neither of them had put pictures into them. Bummer! That's why I like to put the pictures in for them, as I am making it, if I am able. I obviously can't do that for this occasion though.

Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of my day on Saturday. There are only a few, because like I said before, I totally fizzled out at the end.

10:00 am. I had to check in for the CHOC walk on Saturday morning.

Leaving the Check in and on my way to my Dad's house. 10:30 am
11:15 a.m. My Dad's house.

My Dad's dog. He's barking because he is happy to see me.

1:30. We are in Loma Linda and we're going to Olive Garden for lunch.




My Aunt and my Dad at Olive Garden. 2:00

3:00 pm. Loma Linda Hospital. We're going to visit my Uncle.

Me with the giant Pumpkin somebody donated to the hospital. It's a "prayer pumpkin"(see next photo).




And that was all the pictures I took that day. See? Slacker. We spent about an hour at the hospital and then we went back to my Aunt's house and hung out with family the rest of the afternoon, before starting home at around 7:00 p.m. I didn't get home until almost 8:30 and Joe and I watched some t.v. before I went to bed early to get up for the walk in the morning.

Not too terribly exciting.

Here are some pictures of the first half of the wedding album I am making:

The colors for the wedding are Black, Cream, and Red. I had to add some white because it is hard to find cream and white wedding stuff for scrapbooking.

Cover:

First two pages: Wedding invitation and Title Page



Pages 3, 4. "Getting Ready" and "My Dress"

Pages 5, 6. "The Groom" and "Groomsmen"




Pages 7, 8. Left side "Bridesmaids"

Right side "Friends". The bride is having only her two best friends(sisters) as attendants.

Pages 9, 10. "The Wedding Party"

Pages 11, 12. "The Ceremony" and "The Kiss"


I have about 12 more pages(the cake, the bouquet, the reception, etc.) that I have yet to photograph. Who knows when I'll have time to do that :). I need to go wake up my husband for dinner now(he's working tonight).